Nature & Outdoors

De Leon Springs State Park

Visitors to DeLeon Springs State Park can savor its wildly diverse and genuinely ancient history. Human beings have cherished the site’s revitalizing and life-staining waters for at least 6,000 years. Once promoted as the legendary “Fountain of Youth,” this delightful aquatic realm has been shared by Archaic-Period Natives in dugout canoes, African plantation slaves, Seminole warriors, Union Army soldiers, 19th-century tourists, and even a waterskiing elephant. Apart from cooling off in the refreshing 72° spring-fed pool, modern humans can relax in the shade of sprawling live oaks draped with Spanish moss, view a surprising variety of wildlife by canoe or kayak, and even sample delicious multigrain pancakes in the restored ruins of a pre-Civil War sugar mill.

An average of 17 million gallons per day flow from an opening in the limestone some 30 feet below the pool surface and then pour over a spillway into waterways that leads to the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge and the slow-moving St. Johns River. The area is not only rich in animal life, but has significant archeological sites, including Tick Island, a burial ground dating back to 4,000 BCE. Even the ranger’s house in the State Park is built on top of a major Native American midden. The lavish history of DeLeon Springs gives the park an especially enriched character than can be physically complemented with a swim in its refreshing waters.

Extraordinary features of DeLeon Springs include:• the old Sugar Mill Restaurant where you can prepare your own pancakes at the table.• the steam rising from the spring waters on the coldest days of the year.• centuries-old live oaks with branches so large they grow across the ground.